Capcom and Level-5 producers discuss the crossover title's gameplay and difficult development backdrop.

It's been a while since we've heard much about Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, the goofy 3DS crossover title announced last fall. The game's proceeding along, though, due for a 2012 release in Japan, and the two main folks behind it -- Layton series producer Jun Suzuki, and Ace Attorney creator Shu Takumi -- sat down with
Famitsu
magazine in this week's issue to discuss how things are coming along.

Judging by how the pair spoke in the interview, it sounds like the idea for the adventure/puzzle crossover was hatched more by corporate than the respective development teams. "I was pretty surprised, much as I think everyone reading this was," Takumi said. "I didn't actually hear about it until after the project was underway; I didn't get involved until after things had proceeded a fair distance. I did receive some notification beforehand, but it was largely a matter of me nodding and saying 'Neat'; it was hard to really picture what it was going to be like."

Suzuki was even less prepared for this tandem project -- he admitted to Famitsu
that he never played an Ace Attorney game until the idea came up. "[Level-5 president Akihiro] Hino is just an enormous fan of the series," he said. "He'd always say stuff to me like 'You better produce something on par with Ace Attorney' to me -- which, if anything, made me not want to play them even more! Actually trying them out, though, they're pretty fun. The gameplay's solidly there, the way it uses music is really effective, and the player really gets driven by the action. Takumi has a knack for good dialogue, too."

The game itself is set in the Middle Ages-influenced town of Labyrinth City, a place where magic still exists and a young, blond-haired lass has been accused of witchcraft. She's put on trial, and somehow Phoenix is charged with defending her -- but the "group trials" of these medieval times are something our hero is pretty unprepared for. Instead of cross-examining witnesses presented by the prosecution, it's basically Phoenix (and his client) versus the mob of confrontational witnesses, all of whom are free to confer with each other at any time. "When you try to imagine medieval court proceedings," commented Takumi, "you tend to picture these mob scenes with people shouting out accusations at the tops of their lungs. It's a crazy scene, and since this game's set in a medieval city, I wanted to present a court the likes of which we've never seen before." (The title will also feature Layton-style puzzle sections, although the exact nature of them weren't revealed.)

Layton vs. Wright is a very collaborative project, with both Capcom and Level-5 making contributions in the fields they're best at. In terms of art style, however, Capcom is taking the lead. "Capcom is handling the visual design and art," Takumi said. "We've been undergoing a long trial-and-error process in pretty much every aspect of the game, figuring out how to merge the two worlds together. Phoenix is drawn a little more simply than in the Ace Attorney games, while Professor Layton has a bit more detail, with the wrinkles in his clothing and so forth. It's a lot of nitty-gritty work, and I'm sure we'll continue trying to balance all of it right up to the end of the project."

At the same time, though, the game will be presented in 3D, a first for the Ace Attorney series. (Layton made the jump to 3D for Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracles, a 3DS launch title in Japan.) "It was a bit of an internal conflict I had with myself when the team decided to go ahead and make this a 3D title," Takumi admitted. "When you think about the 3DS, though, we really couldn't have done without three-dimensional graphics. Making it 3D also allows us to add more depth and character to the courtroom, letting us present the action from different angles and really expanding the freedom of expression we have."

It sounds like a difficult birth, no doubt about that, but it's a challenge that both sides seem to be up for. "The first Layton game [Professor Layton and the Curious Village] was a pain to develop because we really weren't sure exactly what we were doing," Suzuki said. "It's kind of the same process right now, and that's a good thing, because I hope it'll result in the same kind of fan support that Layton has received over the years."

Layton vs. Wright is due out sometime next year in Japan, where Level-5 will be handling publication duties.

All-in-all...

I just want to see this come to the West. As it's a great thing Capcom ain't overseeing publishing--we might actually have a chance to see it. Hopefully this will make them realize how much fans still desire seeing Phoenix and hopefully that will spearhead them to continuing the series on to the 3DS for future installments. Layton's cool, I guess--never played any of his games; but down w/ supporting anything w/ Phoenix in it (and I think any AA fan should do the same).

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